Many vehicle owners are wary of shops that try to upsell unnecessary repairs and often decline, thinking repair shops are after the bottom dollar. This may be true, but sometimes they are very necessary.
Case in point: When we take in a car, we always give it “The Eyeball” to make sure things are in working order. Recently, a customer brought in her Dodge Caravan and we informed her that her engine had an oil leak and that it should be taken care of sooner than later — not an unnecessary repair by any measure. She declined, so we advised her to check the oil often or expensive things would happen. A few months later, we received a call from her and she said she was on the highway and her engine was making a loud sound and was losing power. I told her to shut the vehicle down ASAP and to check the oil. She was four quarts low on an engine that holds only five. Now she needs a new engine. A big and expensive repair that could have been avoided.
Avoiding unnecessary repairs can often lead to much worse problems, like a dead battery that has corroded everything around it.
A similar incident occurred when we inspected another customer’s vehicle. He had purchased it without a “Pre-Purchase Eyeball” and brought it to us proudly saying what a great deal he got on it, and could we look it over. Sure. One of the most sinister things we found was that the rear axle had developed a fluid leak, and as a result, was out of oil. And now the gears are ruined and need to be replaced. Big expensive job. So it was a good deal, but at what cost, we say. Again, the previous owners probably skipped out what they thought were unnecessary repairs and now big things are broken.
So yes, we want your money and will gladly take it, but our primary goal is to make your car behave and keep you, the customer, safe and hassle-free. Happy customers come back and we’d rather have repeat customers getting regular maintenance done that keeps their cars happy than unhappy customers stuck with large repair bills for things that could have been avoided.
So, if heavens forbid, another shop tells you something, it’s best to take this advice to heart. And if you want an honest, second opinion, we’ll be glad to look it over and even take you back for our patented “Show and Tell”, so you can see what is going on. Trust us and your car can behave, and everyone will be happy.